To mark Stress Awareness Month this April, a new resource has been added to the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHGGGC) Mental Health Improvement Team Healthy Minds Collection: Online Harms and Mental Health.

It is the latest of 18 Healthy Minds resources looking to raise awareness of a variety of topics that impact people’s mental health and wellbeing, including grief, body image, sleep, and more.  

The Mental Health Improvement Team is hosted within Glasgow City Health and Social Care partnership (HSCP) and works across Greater Glasgow and Clyde to support staff and partners with public mental health.

Heather Sloan, Health Improvement Lead, Mental Health said: “Evidence shows us that online harms (such as cyberbullying, revenge porn, and content promoting self-harm) are an important and growing issue of concern. More than six in ten (62%) internet users aged 13+ have encountered a potential harm online in the last four weeks. This is having a real impact on our communities, with 24% of 18 to 29-year-olds having experienced mental or emotional stress as a result of online harassment.”

The new Online Harms and Mental Health session offers a basic awareness and understanding of online harm and the real impact it can have on mental health, and what support for those who have experienced online harm looks like. It also encourages us all as individuals, workplaces, and society, to think about how we can support those who have experienced online harm.  
 
To mark the launch, the team will be delivering a session on Online Harms and Mental Health on Wednesday,  3 May from 10.00–11.30am on Microsoft Teams. If you’d like to come along to the session please contact ggc.mhead@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.

Healthy Minds is a universal resource which aims to promote basic awareness and understanding of mental health and topics that are associated with and can impact on mental health and wellbeing. It is a cascading and capacity building resource that aims to support partners and organisations deliver on the public mental health agenda. The focus of Healthy Minds is prevention and early intervention.

All Healthy Minds sessions are free to download and can be used by anyone to raise awareness of a range of topics that impact mental health. You can access them on the team website: Healthy Minds Resource - NHSGGC. The Online Harms session is number 18 in the collection.